<$BlogRSDURL$>

Ramblings From the Ragged Crumbling Edge Of The Reality-Based Community

Friday, August 05, 2005

Ending With a Whimper 

...it's safe now. The pets can be let outside and the kids can go play in the yard, because the 2005 Oregon Legislature has ended and the streets once again safe. It came to a finish with all the grace of a malfunctioning airplane hitting the runway with the gear up, but most everybody walked away. In terms of productivity vs. days invested, this second-longest session probably makes a compelling argument for the attractiveness of dictatorships as a viable form of government, but you have to legislate with the legislators you have and not the ones you wish you had or would like to have. If nothing else, this session stands as a testament to the idea that strongly held partisan principles will usually turn otherwise mature, intelligent adults into a bunch of brawling adolescents for whom simply winning is the only goal, no matter what the expense is to the welfare of the state or it's people...

...while it would be easy and pleasurable to lay all the blame at the feet of Karen Minnis and the State House Republicans, there's plenty enough blame to spread around and still reserve the majority for them. Whoever one chooses to blame, however, the fact remains that little was accomplished in addressing the fundamental problems that Oregon faces in trying to maintain stable school funding, the glaring difficulties in trying to implement the poorly written property compensation law - Measure 37 - did not get fixed, and the establishment of legal rights and responsibilities for gay and lesbian couples was snuffed. This was accomplished by a raw partisan political bait-and-switch where the once seemingly acceptable idea of civil unions suddenly became anathema to religious conservatives who's own marriages ride on such a shallow, weak foundation that other people's actions would apparently put them at risk (thank God they don't know what happens in MY bedroom; they'd be in divorce court by sundown and I'd hate to have that on my conscience...). There's more where that came from, but this is a pretty good starting list...

...and now we'll limp along for a year and a half, pretty much left to our own devices, owing to the odd biennial nature of the legislative schedule. Between now and the commencement of the next session in 2007, some lawmakers are going to be facing the voters and explaining how their actions in this session justify returning them to Salem for another go-round, which could be an exceedingly interesting conversation to observe. In the meantime, discussions will be on-going about some of the messes that we are still left with, and there may even be talk (there usually is) about whether the Oregon legislature should meet on an annual basis instead of every other year. It has become increasingly apparent that the issues that need to be legislatively addressed are becoming so numerous in our increasingly complicated society that annual sessions would be an obvious solution, but after watching the sharp partisan nature of this year's circus it's possible that a few niggling little doubts about that are creeping in. We may not be able to stand watching this sort of action every year...
Posted by: Jack K. / 8:39 AM 0 comments

Thursday, August 04, 2005

Self-Fulfilling Facts 

...so today Al Qaida's number 2 guy, Ayman al-Zawahri, was seen on video threatening Britian and the US with more terrorist attacks. George W. Bush, apparently having been sternly instructed by his handlers to never again use the words "bring", "it", or "on" in the same paragraph or, even more preferably, during the same day, decided to try a different approach. He declared that this sort of statement proves beyond doubt that Iraq is part of the "war on terror". No, really. That's what he said...

He also said we're fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here.

...now I don't know if you should be bothered by the raw duplicity of these comments, but you definitely should be bothered by the fact that over 40% of the people in this country actively support him and accept statements like these at face value. While the first statement itself is strictly factual, it's a manufactured form of veracity, brought about solely by Gee Dub's actions and not as the result of any external situation that he was responding to. At the most charitable remove, this acceptance at least represents the stark, dramatic failure of the Fourth Estate, the MSM, to do the job that a free press must in accurately informing the public. We're not talking about Judith Miller, here, and whatever dark secret motivations drove her to such a frenzied, false beating on the drums of war. This is about the rest of the gaggle who, for fear of the loss of precious access or of those great insider perks that come to the kool kids, turned themselve over for internment as some quasi-state-sponsored media and in the process crafted a new definition for the term "journalistic diligence" that rendered either word all but unrecognizable. Gee Dub is operating in a broad flat cozy comfort zone here, knowing that he can still just say these things with the expectation that they will be presented in a straightforward, unchallenged fashion. You can bet those Londoners who are flinging themselves off of busses at the first sign of smoke from the engine compartment aren't going to sign off on the notion that we are only fighting the terrorists "over there"...

...It also appears that Gee Dub has put his foot down in the nomenclature area, too. There isn't going to be any of this "global struggle against violent extremism" wimptalk when he's around, by golly. This is a war, and he's a war president, not a struggle president. And it's hard; it's hard work...
Posted by: Jack K. / 2:33 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Spanking the Cat Man 

...last week Bill "Cat Man" Frist decided to dip his big toe into the swirling dark waters of 2008 presidential politics by supposedly reversing his stance on stem cell research and true compassionate Christians can only hope that he can be retrained to walk without that particular digit. Those of us who have a strong connection to the subject, such as your humble blogging servant who has a son with Type I (juvenile) Diabetes, were, of course, somewhat heartened by this reversal, but it must be noted that his support of federal funding for research on new lines of embryonic stem cells had so many codicils, exemptions, exceptions, and "however" items that it may not, on careful examination, actually represent the sort of whole-hearted support that we advocates were actually looking for. The sad part, at least for Cat Man and that big toe, is that his effort to thread the needle on this widely supported subject may have gone for naught with the conservative religious base. "Justice Sunday II" is coming down the pike, and the Cat Man has intentionally not been invited to speak...

...the great thing about these characters, such as the Family Research Council gang, is that they don't even try to hide their intentions or motivations anymore:
Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said Tuesday on the group's Web site that Frist's recently announced stem cell stance "reflects an unwise and unnecessary choice both for public policy and for respecting the dignity of human life."

...hmm..."dignity of human life". Apparently the Family Research Council thinks that the "dignity of human life" somehow encompasses the casual incineration of embryos but doesn't include the right of my child to be free of 5 finger-stickings and three shots per day, not to mention all the normal kid-growing-up and life-living things that an insulin-dependent child has to give up (regardless of the efforts we parents go to in an effort to provide as normal a life as possible for them). Anyway, be that as it may, Frist's efforts to try to move to the center have been met with a cold stoney silence by the forces of the faux-Christian religious right. Bill Frist may or may not actually run for president in 2008, but at least for now he is being forced to come to grips with the internal right-side power that these people hold over that voting segment. The best thing about this whole little tempest in the wingnut teapot is that his list of exceptions in the effort to provide federal funding for an expanded line of stem cells was such that he really - upon closer examination - didn't do much more than open a small crack in that particular window. He didn't suddenly emerge from some tightly guarded room to announce that free drugs, free sex, and free abortions would be the centerpiece of his campaign, but those conservative religious forces so desperate to take control of the nation aren't able to tolerate any sort of apparent defection. That's the take-home lesson for Republicans seeking the nation's higest office (as well as for the rest of us hoping to provide many of them a well-deserved rest), and that's the message and mantra that they have to know that they need to somehow take to the people in a manageable sales job. No wonder people don't have any burning desire to vote anymore...
Posted by: Jack K. / 8:36 PM 0 comments

"The News...You Need to Know" 

...so I'm sitting here looking at the 11:13 a.m update at MSNBC.com. The King's Crossing Smoking Bus Crisis has pretty much dropped off the screen, after it was determined that it wasn't a terrorist attack, so the headline is about China dropping its bid to buy UnoCal Oil. Off to the side are a number of highlighted stories, and that's what captures my attention. The top story is about six more American combat fatalities in Iraq, followed by threats by the European Union to quit having talks with Iran about nuclear proliferation issues. But what is at the top of the list under the tag "Other Top Stories"? Why, it says "Aniston speaks out on Pitt, Jolie"...

Seriously. That's what it says.

...now I don't subscribe to the idea that the Terrorists Have Won, but they must think that things are looking up. Time was when the news of six newly dead Marines would have dominated the news, with details and portraits plastered everywhere, but that time is gone. Even beyond that, in the last few days Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has completely reversed himself on the issue of Federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, the Patriot Act - with several onerous warts still attached - is zooming through its Congressional reauthorization, the shuttle astronauts are rummaging through the drawers trying to find the duct tape and bailing wire so they can get Discovery back home in one piece, John Bolton is embarking on his temporary assignment to the United Nations, and John Roberts - through his paper trail - is transmorgrifying into some vicious Southern Baptist preacherman spouting angry screeds about hellsfire and brimstone for unbelievers of all stripes, especially liberals, gays, and uppity women. With all this, just how the hell does anything at all concerning Jennifer Aniston's loudly public failed marriage really matter enough to make any general news front page? There are enough connecting threads from this to lead to several different discussions, but suffice it to say that we are in trouble when the names Aniston, Pitt, and Jolie are associated with a "top" news story...
Posted by: Jack K. / 8:19 AM 0 comments

Sunday, July 31, 2005

The Bolton Conundrum 

(cross-posted at Ruminate This)

...and so, after a long (no, seriously I mean REALLY LONG) weekend at the annual in-law's family get-together, in which our hero and his family drag the camping trailer 350 miles to the ancestral home of my children's mother, we are home. This year, as with all of the last 15 or 20 years of this celebration to which I've been a party, was a memorable event, starting with a sharp vicious mother-daughter spat between mom-in-law and a sister-in-law on Thursday (causing the only two witnesses - my eldest and I - to flee the area to avoid any stray bullets), a rousing Saturday night strumming sing-along late into the night that was clearly audible from the bed in which I was trying to sleep so I could get up at the crack of dawn to prepare the trailer/truck/family for the 350-mile trip home, and finishing up this morning with one of the young nephews half-dragging, half-carrying his rather pregnant young wife down the stairs into the bathroom next to the kitchen, obviously concerned about her wild shrieks of pain from some affliction centered in her abdominal/uterine area. The resultant ambulance was a new twist and an interesting touch, but the young lady - a beautiful and kind-hearted person over whose welfare we were all extremely concerned - is going to be fine (apparently some sort of exceptional gastrointestinal distress led to her difficulties) and we managed to travel safely home, nonwithstanding the efforts of five or six other drivers - all Oregonians - who, if they keep it up, are going to eventually get their names in the newspaper twice: once for the accident and shortly thereafter for the obituary...

...all of this is, I realize, a long-winded way to get to the fact that I am, on these weekends, generally cut off from most information delivery. It's good to see, therefore, that the basic subject matter is still the same. Roberts, Rove, and Bolton (which could be the perfect name for the law firm from Hell) are still all in the news. What strikes me as passibly interesting is the building power of the Bolton/recess appointment talk. A suspicion has flashed through my mind over the last couple of hours regarding the apparent likelihood of a Bolton recess appointment in the face of an unchallenged filibuster and some discomfort even being expressed on the Republican side of the Senate aisle over his very nomination. My suspicion is this: John Roberts hasn't overwhelmed the public discussion to the degree that Gee Dub - and, more to the point, Karl Rove - would have hoped to get this whole Valerie Plame mess off the Nightly News. These people know how to capture time segments in the news media the same way Chester Nimitz knew how to capture Pacific Islands in World War II. Think of a recess appointment of John Bolton as battleships hurling shells the size of small cars toward enemy beaches; getting the Plame-game out of the public eye is vitally important to the Bush Administration, and promoting John Bolton to the UN ambassadorship is a brace of 15-inch salvos do help do just that...

...nothing but outrage would be the conventional reaction of Senate Democrats as a result of a Bolton recess appointment. This, while being a perfectly reasonable reaction, presents something of a conundrum. On the one hand, John Bolton clearly has neither the temperament nor the intellect nor the integrity to represent United
States in the U.N. Rather than being oil on water in the current difficulties that the US is having with it's membership, he is more like gasoline on water in the middle of an oil tanker fire. There isn't any evidence that his time in the UN between now and January, 2007, will lead to anything much less than the marginalization of the US in every venue where the Bushies can't use either the power of the purse or that precious Security Council vote to enforce our will. Even with that power, the best bet is that the U.S. - you and me - will gain the reputation as being some sort of dictatorial monster who wants the entire world to bow to the bidding of the United States. This doesn't bode well for either the security of the United States - that's you and me - or the likelihood of understanding or cooperation on an ever-expanding list of matters that affect you and me from a social or economic standpoint. On the other hand, having a loose, frequently discharged cannon like John Bolton careening around the decks of the UN for over a year certainly provides a wonderful opportunity to discuss just exactly how the Republican party - which was more than happy to confirm him to the position were the Democrats not such poopy-heads about the whole thing - views our responsibility as residents in that great neighborhood that is the planet on which we live...

...along with all of the delightful negatives that Bolton would bring to the UN Ambassadorship, there is also the outside chance that he had some role to play in the outing of Valerie Plame. Since a recess appointment can't be stopped, there's always the vague hope that shipping him off to New York, accompanied by a subsequent revelation that he played a role in revealing her name to reporters, could result in the creation of a perfect storm, one that washes all of the flotsam of this particular administration up on the beach for everybody to see all at the same time. As noted in the article, Democrats are making all the appropriate noises, but noises is all they are, since recess appointments are beyond even the slim influence that a minority party can yield. Buckling in and seeing where the ride takes you may just be the best wager that Democrats can make, with the stipulation that they be ready to take advantage of whatever opportunities this particular trip offers. As we've learned at my house during the Annual In-Laws Family Get-Together, that's just about the only way to survive the trip...
Posted by: Jack K. / 8:12 PM 0 comments

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?